Q&A on USS America

Unique amphibious ship is first modern big-deck to go all aviation

The Navy’s newest big-deck amphibious ship, called America, is slated to arrive in its intended home port of San Diego later this year. The ship is distinctive because it lacks a “well deck” to offload the amphibious vehicles that Marines use to storm beaches. Instead, the space normally allotted to landing craft will be dedicated to Marine Corps helicopters and the Joint Strike Fighter. Credit: U.S. Navy

The Navy’s newest big-deck amphibious ship, called America, is slated to arrive in its intended home port of San Diego later this year. The ship is distinctive because it lacks a “well deck” to offload the amphibious vehicles that Marines use to storm beaches. Instead, the space normally allotted to landing craft will be dedicated to Marine Corps helicopters and the Joint Strike Fighter. Credit: U.S. Navy

The newest amphibious assault ship in the U.S. fleet is the America, the fourth Navy vessel to be named for the nation.

Its design is unlike all the other modern flat-top ships built to carry Marines. It has no “well deck” — a floodable space at the rear of the ship used to launch Marine Corps landing crafts.

As a result, the America has room for up to 34 aircraft instead of the usual 31, including three extra Joint Strike Fighter jets.

Still in the shipyard, the vessel will be assigned to San Diego and is expected to arrive in September.

Its skipper, Capt. Robert Hall, recently sat down with U-T San Diego to discuss this first-of-its-kind ship. Here is an edited version of that conversation:

The Navy’s newest big-deck amphibious ship, called America, is slated to arrive in its intended home port of San Diego later this year. The ship is distinctive because it lacks a “well deck” to offload the amphibious vehicles that Marines use to storm beaches. Instead, the space normally allotted to landing craft will be dedicated to Marine Corps helicopters and the Joint Strike Fighter. Credit: U.S. Navy

The Navy’s newest big-deck amphibious ship, called America, is slated to arrive in its intended home port of San Diego later this year. The ship is distinctive because it lacks a “well deck” to offload the amphibious vehicles that Marines use to storm beaches. Instead, the space normally allotted to landing craft will be dedicated to Marine Corps helicopters and the Joint Strike Fighter. Credit: U.S. Navy

Q: Why did the Navy build a big-deck amphibious ship that is focused solely on aircraft?

A: The idea came up many years ago with the advent of the newer aviation platforms that the Marines are bringing on, specifically the MV-22 Osprey and the Joint Strike Fighter. ... They’ve got a much larger footprint. The amphibious assault ships today are equipped to handle them, but not as far as sustaining the maintenance they require. It requires more hangar space, more maintenance capacity, and that’s really what our ship was built to do.

Q: Is that because the Joint Strike Fighter and the Osprey, which lands like a helicopter and flies like a plane, are just larger?

A: Right, and both very complicated platforms also. The maintenance requirement to keep them operational is larger, and so we have a much greater capacity to do that. We also carry (twice as much) jet fuel on board. We have a lot more room for ordnance to sustain aviation operations once we get to sea.

LHA-6 America

What: Big-deck amphibious assault ship

Length: 844 feet

Displacement: 44,854 tons

Troops: 1, 200 sailors, 1,870 Marines

Aircraft:

F-35B Joint Strike Fighter – 9

MV-22 Osprey – 12

AH-1Z Super Cobra helicopter -- 4

CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter -- 4

UH-1Y Huey helicopter – 3

MH-60S Seahawk helicopter – 2

Q: So you have no landing crafts to launch, no amphibious vehicles that have traditionally delivered Marines from ship to beach. What goes in their space?

A: We have 40 percent greater hangar capacity, with two high bay areas to do maintenance, with a large crane so you can do big, heavy lifting. The aircraft themselves require a lot equipment, tools, spare parts that come with them. All that space is turned into shop space. We also have greater storage capacity. Magazines for ammunition are larger.

Q: I’m surprised there’s room for only two or three extra aircraft. It doesn’t sound like a lot.

A: You are looking really at the sustainability of the operations. Once we get out operating, we can sustain the operations because we can do the maintenance. As aircraft evolve and get more complex, it takes a lot more work and effort to keep them up and operating. Our ability to stay on station should be a lot greater.